Honestly, not a parody, but the attempt by Dorothy Brown to argue that she runs a modern court system. Never mind the outdated computers in the video, the piles of paper in the stock footage, and the incredibly low tech productions values of the video itself.
Whoever produced this has a brilliant future. . . . as a video producer for The Onion.
Jacob Meister, candidate for Clerk of the Court, who has been endorsed by all 3 major dailies, will hold a media availability and phone bank at his campaign office today (Monday 3/14) from 1 – 2pm. Meister will discuss the legacy of corruption and patronage Clerk Dorothy Brown and Alderman Michelle Harris offer voters.
Last fall the campaign season kicked off with the revelation that Brown was being investigated by the FBI for selling jobs. Now, just days before the election, Brown has released a bizarre re‐election campaign videoon social media containing footage filmed in the Clerk’s office on government property, seemingly during business hours. Has Dorothy learned nothing from her past illegal behavior?
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner spent his Sunday trying to give a boost to a central Illinois Republican candidate for state senate. The race is seen as a key test of Rauner’s own agenda, and power within his party.
Gov. Rauner stopped by a table of folks waiting for pancakes at Charlie Parker’s diner in Springfield.
He gestured to the man by his side — Bryce Benton. He’s a state trooper, and homeland security officer, Rauner told them. Vote for him on Tuesday.
“I need him in the legislature to help me battle Madigan. So. Bryce Benton for State Senate,” Rauner said.
(Benton himself didn’t say much; he told them to enjoy their breakfast).
Dude, you’re the candidate. Yeah, I know you’ve raised almost no money on your own and are being almost totally bankrolled by Rauner, but for crying out loud take a little initiative.
Keep in mind: Even if Rauner-backed candidates win, one of Madigan’s unique strengths is making friends of foes. Plenty of Democrats have joined the House as self-proclaimed Madigan rebels, only to fall politely in line. Why? They need Madigan. They need his staff. They need his campaign war chest. They need his attorneys to protect them on the ballot. They need his approval to pass legislation.
Stockholm syndrome is endemic among House Democrats.
There’s nothing quite like an armchair mass diagnosis.
* Same message, but said less politely by someone else on Twitter…
@GovRauner ignore the haters gov. rauner.. they're just demo rat trolls. stay strong.. dictator madigan wants to bankrupt us..
She probably has a webcam under her bed to watch from work just in case the boogeyman hides there while she’s away.
@FakeStatehouseChick - the last thing a new legislator needs to do is be seen working with others for the good of Illinois #StsyStrongShills #PoisonTheFuture
The video would have been better if Brown had been strolling in front of that big flag wearing a helmet and carrying a riding crop talking about how she was going to grease the hard drives of her old computers with the guts of her opponents.
The computers in the Clerk’s Office are running Windows XP. Microsoft stopped updating the security for that system last year. The entire Cook County Clerk system is highly vulnerable! Upgrading this software should be a high priority.
Benton was Bill Brady’s “driver” in his first run for Governor. That’s probably about the totality of his political experience. He’s a pretty face - and probably coached to not say much. And I would guess he is used to standing by quietly.
Saw Benton @ the St. Patty’s Day Parade in Springfield on Saturday. He was stiff, extremely uncomfortable and received a poor reception. Sara Wojicicki didn’t even bother to leave the street to shake hands. Very odd spectacle…event for Springfield.
- The Internet's Finest eLawyer - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:21 am:
The circuit clerk in Mombasa is a better run and more high tech office than the Cook County Circuit Clerk.
I missed Benton at the parade, I saw his group walk by and they got some boos. Andy Manar worked the crowd. Wojicki stayed in the middle of the road, literally, not an analogy.
“The computers in the Clerk’s Office are running Windows XP. Microsoft stopped updating the security for that system last year. The entire Cook County Clerk system is highly vulnerable! Upgrading this software should be a high priority.”
————
Check out the computer screens. There’s a reason they are still on XP. You can run DOS in a Windows shell as long as you are still on XP. But printing from DOS on Win 7 was a really round about process (very hit & miss), and not even possible on Win 8.0 and higher.
You can’t feasibly upgrade your OS if you take down all your printing capabilities.
The bigger issue is all those 10’s (if not 100’s) of millions of old data records. What’s the conversion plan?
The bigger issue is “Do the taxpayers really want Dorothy Brown as Cook County Circuit Clerk overseeing spending multiple 10’s of millions of taxpayer dollars to create her digital empire?”
Reports of a lot of pancake pukin’ at CPs after the $uper$tar plugged Benton. Good to see someone remembered what happened at the SPI parade.
It was good to see Katrina frame the election. We all know Madigan forced all those Magoos to link up with $$tar, take his loot, hire Proft, etc.
That Madigan really knows how to bamboozle those poor innocent candidates.
Another god bit of evidence why the Tribbies carry little to on weight anymore.
Bryce Benton is to Bruce Rauner as_____________ is to Mike Madigan.
Granted most of Madigan’s people know how to work a parade or coffee shop. They live on the doors.
The Dorothy Brown video is political campaign material using public government property. She needs to be indicted and arrested. This is absurd. Someone please record a copy of that and send it to the US Attorney
just wondering, as I’ve read more about Benton recently. He is currently a state police officer, and a designated homeland security official. I would have guesses that at least part of his salary was federal, given the homeland security part. So while I don’t know this for a fact, I question:
1. Is he still currently a state police officer? Is he on leave for his candidacy?
2. If my assumptions are true, how has he not been impacted by the Hatch Act?
These are curiosities, not intended to impugn or suggest malfeasance.
- The Way I See It - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:28 am:
Dorothy Brown is a horrible official. Praying she goes down in flames. Inept, just awful.
Mccann was at the spfld st pats parade, working the crowd shaking every hand possible, on both sides of the street.
—–
My favorite platitude is: “he/she will hold the politicians accountable.” Yep, a freshman, esp in the minority, will bring the leaders and gov to task. Done.
Mom, did you see this: “The to right to keep and bear arms is America’s first freedom”. I could have sworn that not only was that not a freedom granted under the original constitution, but it is second on the list of amendments, and only the second part of that amendment. How is it that everyone of his ilk thinks the Constitution begins and ends with the right to keep and bear arms (regardless of the necessity of a well regulated militia no less)?
===Check out the computer screens. There’s a reason they are still on XP. You can run DOS in a Windows shell as long as you are still on XP. But printing from DOS on Win 7 was a really round about process (very hit & miss), and not even possible on Win 8.0 and higher.
===You can’t feasibly upgrade your OS if you take down all your printing capabilities.
Then the printing capabilities should be brought up to current technology. Printing from DOS at this point is proving the point.
That column is more evidence that McQueary and the Raunerbots don’t understand the House Dem rank-and-file.
I talk to Dem members everyday, I’m still waiting to hear one say something like: “I would really like to compromise with Rauner, but the Speaker is holding me back.”
Madigan has never had an easier time holding his caucus together.
Me, too — I was actually at the National Archive over the weekend. (Seriously) I would estimate that about two-thirds of the people in the Constitution room were there solely to see the Second Amendment. The security guards were confiscating hundreds of yellow highlighters…
====Me, too — I was actually at the National Archive over the weekend. (Seriously) I would estimate that about two-thirds of the people in the Constitution room were there solely to see the Second Amendment. The security guards were confiscating hundreds of yellow highlighters…
Does the Brown video really say at about 2:10:
“And you really need to credit the opposition’s plan to improve operations.” ???
Who wrote this? Did they just assume nobody could make it all the way through the video? Was somebody trolling Dorothy?
There was a time when I really admired Dorothy Brown. This is embarrassing. I think she is going to have a narrow victory tomorrow since everyone has been more focused on Alvarez and Trump.
Benton is in the ISP’s homeland security department. He works WITH the federal agency, but is not a federal employee. The Hatch Act applies to state employees only if their salary is paid 100% by federal dollars, certainly not the case here.
- RNUG - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:54 am:
Glad I skipped Charlie’s on Sunday …
- Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:55 am:
That is a lie. I am not a demo rat troll. I am a demo troll rat. Get it right!
- Keyrock - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:58 am:
The name of the Tribune columnist is now, appropriately, banned.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:58 am:
No words to describe the Dorothy video except hilariously bad!
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:58 am:
That Kristen McQueary…
She probably has a webcam under her bed to watch from work just in case the boogeyman hides there while she’s away.
@FakeStatehouseChick - the last thing a new legislator needs to do is be seen working with others for the good of Illinois #StsyStrongShills #PoisonTheFuture
- wordslinger - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:59 am:
The video would have been better if Brown had been strolling in front of that big flag wearing a helmet and carrying a riding crop talking about how she was going to grease the hard drives of her old computers with the guts of her opponents.
- Highland, IL - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:00 am:
Saw a picture this weekend of Benton with the Governor. He looked stiff, almost scared.
- Enlightened - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:07 am:
The computers in the Clerk’s Office are running Windows XP. Microsoft stopped updating the security for that system last year. The entire Cook County Clerk system is highly vulnerable! Upgrading this software should be a high priority.
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:10 am:
That Brown video is amazing. Are they still running DOS? I haven’t seen screens like that since the 90s. It’s a great self-parody.
- @MisterJayEm - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:11 am:
Stockholm fun facts: The city is spread across 14 islands and over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways.
If I practiced amateur psychology like the Tribune columnist, I’d wonder about the columnist’s obsession with flooded cities.
– MrJM
- Norseman - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:13 am:
=== Saw a picture this weekend of Benton with the Governor. He looked stiff, almost scared. ===
He was too far from his puppet master.
- YNM - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:15 am:
Benton was Bill Brady’s “driver” in his first run for Governor. That’s probably about the totality of his political experience. He’s a pretty face - and probably coached to not say much. And I would guess he is used to standing by quietly.
- FIREDup! - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:17 am:
Saw Benton @ the St. Patty’s Day Parade in Springfield on Saturday. He was stiff, extremely uncomfortable and received a poor reception. Sara Wojicicki didn’t even bother to leave the street to shake hands. Very odd spectacle…event for Springfield.
- The Internet's Finest eLawyer - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:21 am:
The circuit clerk in Mombasa is a better run and more high tech office than the Cook County Circuit Clerk.
- 360 Degree TurnAround - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:27 am:
I missed Benton at the parade, I saw his group walk by and they got some boos. Andy Manar worked the crowd. Wojicki stayed in the middle of the road, literally, not an analogy.
- Keyser Soze - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:29 am:
Bryce Benton’s name was drawn from a hat to be an accidental candidate. He might as well be Brewster Rocket’s coat rack with a bucket on top.
- Soccermom - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:32 am:
I have now tried to watch the Dorothy Brown video three times. Just. Can’t.
- Judgment Day - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:35 am:
“The computers in the Clerk’s Office are running Windows XP. Microsoft stopped updating the security for that system last year. The entire Cook County Clerk system is highly vulnerable! Upgrading this software should be a high priority.”
————
Check out the computer screens. There’s a reason they are still on XP. You can run DOS in a Windows shell as long as you are still on XP. But printing from DOS on Win 7 was a really round about process (very hit & miss), and not even possible on Win 8.0 and higher.
You can’t feasibly upgrade your OS if you take down all your printing capabilities.
The bigger issue is all those 10’s (if not 100’s) of millions of old data records. What’s the conversion plan?
The bigger issue is “Do the taxpayers really want Dorothy Brown as Cook County Circuit Clerk overseeing spending multiple 10’s of millions of taxpayer dollars to create her digital empire?”
Good luck with that one….
- Oneman - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:49 am:
That video? Because nothing says high tech like showing someone clearing a paper jam 9 times.
- Annonin' - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:00 am:
Reports of a lot of pancake pukin’ at CPs after the $uper$tar plugged Benton. Good to see someone remembered what happened at the SPI parade.
It was good to see Katrina frame the election. We all know Madigan forced all those Magoos to link up with $$tar, take his loot, hire Proft, etc.
That Madigan really knows how to bamboozle those poor innocent candidates.
Another god bit of evidence why the Tribbies carry little to on weight anymore.
- TominChicago - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:00 am:
My bet is that @stephaniew1978 is the nom de twitter that @statehousegirl uses when she needs to vent he real feelings.
- The Dude Abides - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:03 am:
As they walked into Charlie’s Bruce said,”just keep your mouth shut and smile and let me do the talkin”
- DuPage Bard - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:06 am:
Bryce Benton is to Bruce Rauner as_____________ is to Mike Madigan.
Granted most of Madigan’s people know how to work a parade or coffee shop. They live on the doors.
- siriusly - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:08 am:
The Dorothy Brown video is political campaign material using public government property. She needs to be indicted and arrested. This is absurd. Someone please record a copy of that and send it to the US Attorney
- Dr X - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:17 am:
We will be free on Tuesday!!! Madigan will lose.
So the next Dem leader will democratize all House rules and everyone will vote freely and Rauner will win.
Said no one ever.
- Brian - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:21 am:
Thanks to Dorothy Brown’s video, I’m reminded paper companies are alive and well.
- xxtofer - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:26 am:
just wondering, as I’ve read more about Benton recently. He is currently a state police officer, and a designated homeland security official. I would have guesses that at least part of his salary was federal, given the homeland security part. So while I don’t know this for a fact, I question:
1. Is he still currently a state police officer? Is he on leave for his candidacy?
2. If my assumptions are true, how has he not been impacted by the Hatch Act?
These are curiosities, not intended to impugn or suggest malfeasance.
- The Way I See It - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:28 am:
Dorothy Brown is a horrible official. Praying she goes down in flames. Inept, just awful.
- burbanite - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:29 am:
Our credit card info was stolen when my husband paid a ticket on Dorothy’s state of the art system!
- Anonymouth - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:32 am:
=== Our credit card info was stolen when my husband paid a ticket on Dorothy’s state of the art system! ===
How can that be? Does Jason Gonzales work for Dorothy Brown’s office?
- Soccermom - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:40 am:
“Um, so Dunkin thinks Madigan’s gonna be Speaker when he’s 119 years old?”
I am not ruling it out.
- Soccermom - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:41 am:
This is laughable, btw:
http://www.electbrycebenton.com/about-bryce-benton/
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:44 am:
To the update,
I think that 46th year will be telling…
- Norseman - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:56 am:
=== Um, so Dunkin thinks Madigan’s gonna be Speaker when he’s 119 years old? ===
Apples and Saputo’s, the Madigan diet for a long life.
- Langhorne - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 10:58 am:
Mccann was at the spfld st pats parade, working the crowd shaking every hand possible, on both sides of the street.
—–
My favorite platitude is: “he/she will hold the politicians accountable.” Yep, a freshman, esp in the minority, will bring the leaders and gov to task. Done.
- Me too - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:03 am:
Mom, did you see this: “The to right to keep and bear arms is America’s first freedom”. I could have sworn that not only was that not a freedom granted under the original constitution, but it is second on the list of amendments, and only the second part of that amendment. How is it that everyone of his ilk thinks the Constitution begins and ends with the right to keep and bear arms (regardless of the necessity of a well regulated militia no less)?
- ArchPundit - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:08 am:
==Um, so Dunkin thinks Madigan’s gonna be Speaker when he’s 119 years old?
Androids haven’t been around long enough to know their expected life span.
- ArchPundit - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:10 am:
===Check out the computer screens. There’s a reason they are still on XP. You can run DOS in a Windows shell as long as you are still on XP. But printing from DOS on Win 7 was a really round about process (very hit & miss), and not even possible on Win 8.0 and higher.
===You can’t feasibly upgrade your OS if you take down all your printing capabilities.
Then the printing capabilities should be brought up to current technology. Printing from DOS at this point is proving the point.
- Sir Reel - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:14 am:
Benton doesn’t usually speak but when he does he always starts with, “license and registration, please.”
- pingu - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:32 am:
Quite a catch to get Perd Hapley to drive up from Pawnee to write and narrate Brown’s ad.
- Cook County Commoner - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:39 am:
The court house counters where fees are collected work well.
- FIREDup! - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:46 am:
-xxtofer-
I have no idea how Benton’s cleared the Hatch Act for this race. Unless he is no longer in Homeland Security?
- Ghost - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 11:50 am:
Rauner took a cop to Charlie Parkers to ask for votes…. i wonder how that went….. unionpolice officers eat there reguarly
- Four// - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 12:10 pm:
That column is more evidence that McQueary and the Raunerbots don’t understand the House Dem rank-and-file.
I talk to Dem members everyday, I’m still waiting to hear one say something like: “I would really like to compromise with Rauner, but the Speaker is holding me back.”
Madigan has never had an easier time holding his caucus together.
- Soccermom - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 12:13 pm:
Me, too — I was actually at the National Archive over the weekend. (Seriously) I would estimate that about two-thirds of the people in the Constitution room were there solely to see the Second Amendment. The security guards were confiscating hundreds of yellow highlighters…
- JS Mill - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 1:16 pm:
=Madigan has never had an easier time holding his caucus together.= Absolutely.
My goodness, they are clinging to him like a two-year old clings to his mama during a thunderstorm.
Rauner has pushed labor and the Democratic caucus hard to Madigan. Nice job there Mr. Winner.
- ArchPundit - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 1:25 pm:
====Me, too — I was actually at the National Archive over the weekend. (Seriously) I would estimate that about two-thirds of the people in the Constitution room were there solely to see the Second Amendment. The security guards were confiscating hundreds of yellow highlighters…
Please say you are joking….
- burbanite - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 3:20 pm:
Madigan and the grim reaper he controls
- Keyrock - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 5:18 pm:
Does the Brown video really say at about 2:10:
“And you really need to credit the opposition’s plan to improve operations.” ???
Who wrote this? Did they just assume nobody could make it all the way through the video? Was somebody trolling Dorothy?
- P. - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 6:02 pm:
From the first second it’s wrong - you can’t use the County seal in a political ad.
- Jakecp - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:02 pm:
There was a time when I really admired Dorothy Brown. This is embarrassing. I think she is going to have a narrow victory tomorrow since everyone has been more focused on Alvarez and Trump.
- JoanP - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 8:44 pm:
@xxtofer & FIREDup -
Benton is in the ISP’s homeland security department. He works WITH the federal agency, but is not a federal employee. The Hatch Act applies to state employees only if their salary is paid 100% by federal dollars, certainly not the case here.
- Anonymous - Monday, Mar 14, 16 @ 9:59 pm:
I thought hatch act attached with any federal funds.